Stretched by NHS cuts and rising demand they do not want to let colleagues or patients down.

More than 1,300 people at the Countess responded to the confidential NHS Staff Survey 2016 carried out between October and December.

Hospital bosses said they were ‘doing everything we can to support the health and wellbeing of those working here’.

The annual survey applied to all its workers not just doctors and nurses.

The Countess of Chester Hospital

In the previous three months 64% said they had come to work despite being sick because of pressure from managers, colleagues or themselves, compared to the national average for other NHS trusts of 56%.

A third of staff had felt unwell due to work-related stress in the last year.